The Tyranny of Twee
I first saw the phrase "tyranny of twee" on Brendan O'Neill's blog. There's a lot of overlap between twee and what I call the Cute Movement:
Can anyone stop the tsunami of twee? It seems not. Britain is being swallowed up by tweeness. Like a B-movie style blob, only pink and sugary rather than black and deathly, twee is spreading through the nation, colonising every corner of cultural life. On TV, in the music world, in magazines, twee is everywhere...
It isn't really a tyranny. More like a virus. The teeny, tiny door item on the SF Weekly's blog prompted this post, but I hadn't seen the current issue of the Weekly, which means I have to add this example:
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Labels: Cute Movement
posted by Rob Anderson @ 2:13 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
That "bike wedding" video is one of the reasons why I decided to take a temporary position in our firm in Another much larger city for 2 years. There is something so self-centered about the creepy SF hipster mindset. They seem so focused on their tattoos , facial hair, skinny jeans and blue bottle coffee that the ongoing filth and homeless issues of the city are ignored by them as they peddle to the next "in" hangout. I think the current obsessions of this generation on "artisanal " $5 slices of toast are the perfect example of an extreme Bay Area version of hyper materialism. I am waiting for a generation more like my parents who were focused less on themselves, and more on making this city and the world a better place.
If it's not really "tyranny," why use the word?
You insult actual tyrants by calling little mouse doors "tyranny".
In fact one of the most twee things that the hipsters do is use hyperbolic words like "Artisinal toast". How meta of you to adopt their smug attitude.
The twee/cuteness phenomenon is real, but the "tyranny" usage is only about alliteration, which is surely why O'Neill used it in the first place.
"The twee/cuteness phenomenon is real, but the "tyranny" usage is only about alliteration, which is surely why O'Neill used it in the first place."
Good to know we shouldn't take your statements terribly seriously.
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